262 LEGUMINOUS PLANTS. 



pods, though crisp and tender at first, soon become too tough 

 and parchment-like for use. In general, the pods of the 

 later sorts remain crisp and tender a much longer period 

 than those of the earlier descriptions. 



Early Plant about sixteen inches high, with small, 



VALENTINE.* yellowish-green leaves and white flowers ; the 



pods are four and a half or five inches long, 



sickle-shaped, almost cylindrical, green while young, yellow 



when ripe, and contain five seeds. 



The variety is productive, and quite early, though not one 

 of the earliest. Sown at the commencement of the season, 

 the plants blossomed in six weeks, produced pods for use in 

 seven weeks, and ripened in thirteen weeks, or ninety days, 

 from the time of planting. Planted after the beginning of 

 summer weather, pods were gathered for the table in fifty 

 days, and the beans ripened in eleven weeks. 



The seeds, when ripe, are of a pale-pink color, marbled 

 or variegated with rose-red, oblong, nearly straight, some- 

 times distorted and irregular as if pressed out of their 

 natural shape, five-eighths of an inch long, and three-eighths 

 of an inch in thickness. A quart, which contains eighteen 

 or nineteen hundred seeds, is sufficient for planting a hun- 

 dred and seventy-five hills, or for a drill, or row, of two 

 hundred or two hundred and twenty-five feet. 



The Early Valentine has little merit as a shelled-bean, 

 green or ripe ; but, of nearly seventy of the most popular 

 of the native as well as foreign sorts experimentally grown, 

 no one excelled it in the tender and succulent character of 

 the pods in the green state. Though these are of moderate 

 size, they are remarkable for their thick, fleshy sides, and 

 for the length of time required for the development of the 

 seeds within. Few, if any, of the Dwarfs harden their pods 

 so slowly, or continue longer in condition for use ; and few 

 are more productive. 



It has long been grown in England and other parts of 



